The miniseries American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez is the first of six series from executive producer Ryan Murphy to air this month, and the third Murphy project centered around elite athletes caught up in a tabloid scandal. American Sports Story – don’t you dare make that an acronym! – joins American Horror Stories and American Crime Story in the anthology format that Murphy popularized. The first season of the latter series centered on OJ Simpson, while the upcoming installment of Monsters on Netflix focuses on the Menendez brothers, including teenage tennis star Erik.
Based on the reported podcast from the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team and production company Wondery, “American Sports Story” can feel constrained by all of these predecessors and precedents. The 10-episode season created by Stuart Zicherman (“The Americans,” “The Affair”) sometimes struggles to put its own stamp on a widely followed story that hews closely to the longstanding themes of the Murphy-verse. But the troubled life and tragic downfall of the New England Patriots tight end, who was convicted of murder in 2015 and took his own life in prison two years later, needs no embellishment to serve as a parable for the dangers of societal homophobia, lack of support systems and the reckless endangerment of the football industrial complex. And as Hernandez himself, actor Josh Rivera – a trained musical performer who previously appeared in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” and the national tour of “Hamilton” – transforms into a player who was quick on his feet but couldn’t outrun his own demons.
American Sports Story is a straightforward retelling. Except that it begins with Hernandez’s shooting of his partner Alexander Bradley (Roland Buck III), months before the murder of his future brother-in-law Odin Lloyd (J. Alex Brinson) that would actually put Hernandez behind bars, the episodes progress linearly through a sadly brief biography. Hernandez grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Bristol, Connecticut, alternately encouraged and abused by his moody father Dennis (Vincent Laresca), who raised Aaron and older brother DJ (Ean Castellanos) for football careers that he gambled away in a run-in with the police that ended his college career. Hernandez was doomed to repeat his father’s mistakes on a far grander scale, having been spared the consequences by successful stints at the University of Florida and the Patriots until it was too late for himself and his victims.
The series bears certain hallmarks of a Murphy production, such as the emphasis on Hernandez’s queerness and the inclusion of longtime collaborators such as directors like Paris Barclay and “Pose” creator Steven Canals. it eschews the campy, outrageous tone typical of the mogul. With its baby Kardashians and media hype, “The People v. OJ Simpson” found room for humor alongside serious issues like racism and domestic violence. In his debut film, “American Sports Story” is far darker, effectively creating a growing sense of dread as Hernandez misses one chance after another to turn his life around. The only source of hilarity is a growling Bill Belichick impersonation by Rivera’s stage mate Norbert Leo Butz, a Bon Jovi-blaring caricature of victory being put above everything else, including the well-being of the players.
Rivera lets just enough sensitivity shine through to convey Hernandez’s charm and potential. Although coaches and talent scouts frown upon his many tattoos, Rivera as Hernandez has a bright smile and a sweet vulnerability that convinces audiences that things could have turned out differently. If only Dennis hadn’t died suddenly when Hernandez was a teenager. If only Florida coach Urban Meyer (Tony Yazbeck) hadn’t protected him from legal trouble and then pushed him to the pros before he was mature enough to be in the spotlight. If only Hernandez hadn’t been drafted by the Patriots, falling back into the thrall of bad influences at home that fed his temper and drug use.
Both the individual steps of Hernandez’s downward spiral and the larger issues it raises in the sport are well known. Although his offenses were extreme, Hernandez was far from the only football player to suffer from CTE, the brain injury that likely hampered his decision-making and exacerbated his behavioral problems. Nor was he the only player of color from a poorer background who exposed himself to CTE to protect white quarterbacks like his college teammate Tim Tebow (Patrick Schwarzenegger).
As compelling as “American Sports Story” is, that familiarity makes you think about the target audience. For sports fans, the Hernandez scandal took place just over a decade ago, so it’s still fresh in their memory. Perhaps the show functions more as a crash course for Murphy’s core audience — the viewers more familiar with the stage work of Rivera, Butz and Yazbeck than the art of a big offense. If that’s the goal, though, the producer might have been better off turning the saga into a Trojan horse in “American Crime Story.” (Thirteen years after “American Horror Story” debuted, the franchise has never been bigger or more interchangeable.)
“American Sports Story” takes its artistic license in Hernandez’s private relationships, particularly with other men. A rare, layered character, Chris (Jake Cannavale, son of “The Watcher” star Bobby) is a physical therapist at Hernandez’s agency who develops a rare romantic, not just sexual, passion. In the final moments of Odin Lloyd, a senseless murder without rhyme or reason in Hernandez’s deteriorating mental state, the writers emphasize the player’s paranoia that anyone might find out about his top-secret sexuality. These scenes don’t necessarily cast Hernandez in a new light, but they do emphasize the plight of a man who could never reconcile his identity with his livelihood. “American Sports Story” isn’t a radical reinvention of either its subject matter or Murphy’s work. Instead, it’s a dramatized crash course in what can and can’t surpass athletic ability.
The first two episodes of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez will premiere on FX at 10 p.m. ET on September 17 and stream on Hulu the next day. The remaining episodes will air weekly on Tuesdays and stream on Wednesdays.
